The Angels Albert Pujols watches a double that brought in two runners in the sixth inning against the Chicago White Sox on Sunday. PAUL BERSEBACH, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

ANAHEIM – On the night of May 4, the Angels had just lost 4-0 to Toronto. Their record was 10-17, and their new star slugger, the future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols, was batting .194, with zero home runs. He’d just gone 0 for 4 and had heard boos at Angel Stadium for the first time.

He sat quietly at his locker and spoke with a calm and confidence that seemed a bit disengaged from the reality. At the time.

"I need to have faith and stay strong, and know that this bad time will pass," he said. "And if it won’t pass, if it's meant to be like this the whole year, I deal with it. But you know what, I'm a great hitter. I know I can hit. And before you know it, I'll start making some adjustments and swing the bat the way I know how to swing the bat."

My goodness, how he’s swinging the bat now. Pujols went 3 for 4 Sunday, including a two-run double that broke a scoreless tie in the sixth, in the Angels’ 4-1 win over Chicago.

Pujols now has 101 RBIs, putting him over the 100 threshold for the 11th time in his 12 seasons. Last year he had 99, to go along with 37 homers and a .299 batting average, as he recovered from a slow start to help St. Louis end the regular season with a flurry and go on to win the World Series.

Although his power numbers are lacking, he’s still hit 30 home runs, to go along with 46 doubles, compared with 29 last year. He’s batting .286, with a .345 on-base percentage, compared with an astounding .325 and .415 lifetime. But his season stats now measure up to the rest of his career, something that seemed impossible a month into the first season of his 10-year, $246 million contract.

Jered Weaver, Sunday’s winning pitcher, said he’s been telling everybody "from day one" that Pujols’ numbers would be there by the end of the season. "He’s definitely lived up to expectations this first year, that’s for sure."

Manager Mike Scioscia said: "To keep perspective on how good this guy is, he's like 45 points below his career average, and he's probably 60-plus points behind his career on-base percentage, and we've seen how good he is. That just shows … this guy’s a Hall of Fame player, and the production numbers are important to us."

ROTATION SET FOR SEATTLE

The Angels have just one more series at home before finishing the road with three apiece at Texas and Seattle.

After a rare middle-of-homestand off day Monday, the Angels host the Mariners for three at Angel Stadium, in a (say it with me now) pivotal series that they absolutely must have to keep their wild-card hopes chugging along.

Scioscia is juggling the starting rotation a bit, going with Zack Greinke on Tuesday, followed by C.J. Wilson and Dan Haren. Last week, against the Rangers, the rotation went Jered Weaver-Wilson-Greinke, followed by Santana and Haren.

Now Santana won’t pitch until Saturday, in Texas. See above parentheses for how important that series could be.

Before Sunday’s game, Scioscia said a starter going on long rest, (Wilson will be on six days, and Santana on seven days, compared with the normal four) wasn’t what you'd want to do "for extended periods during the season. But at this time I think it's OK. … There’s a lot of dynamics and a lot of possibilities in these next two weeks that you have to look at. The first thing, first and foremost, is giving ourselves the best chance to get our foot in the door."

Scioscia said he’s not going with a four-man rotation. “But some guys are being pushed back, that’s for sure."

NOTES

Angels starters have a 2.58 ERA over the last 28 games (69 ER in 240.2 IP), compared with 6.51 (97 ER in 134 IP) over hte previous 15 games. ... Although he went 0 for 3, Mike Trout scored a run, pushing his season total to 122. The rookie will soon break the franchise record of 124, set by Vladimir Guerrero in 2004, his MVP season. ... Weaver is the Angels' first 19-game winner since John Lackey in 2007. ... Boosting his credentials for AL Cy Young award, Weaver has the league's best winning percentage (.826), and the Angels are 17-3 in his last 20 starts. ... Weaver improved his career record against the White Sox to 7-2, with a 1.59 ERA. ... Kendrys Morales hit his fourth home run in his past six games. In his last 14 games he's batting .320 (16 for 50), with four doubles, a triple, four HR and nine RBIs. ... the Angels are 15 games over .500 for the first time since Sept. 21, 2011 (85-70).

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